Washed Ashore – a collection of works made from beach debris – opens at the Virginia Aquarium

When artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi launched the Washed Ashore project, she was thinking of the ecological first and the aesthetic second.

She wanted to find a way to clean up America's seashores. And, well, you've heard the phrase "one person's trash is another one's art?" Pozzi decided to take that literally, turning thousands of pounds of plastic-based debris into dozens of pieces of sculpture and art.

Much of her work will go on display Saturday at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach. The exhibit will be there through the end of September.

"The goal is to raise awareness of pollution in the ocean by using the language of the arts," Pozzi said. "I was a teacher for 30 years, and I know that in order to reach the masses, to make them really understand, you need to make them want to learn. I knew how powerful art could be."

Working out of her home base in Oregon, Pozzi and her team of volunteers has turned 12 tons of garbage – picked mostly from the Pacific Ocean's seashores – into 45 works of art. A dozen pieces have been equally divided among the three Sea World parks. Several others are currently on display at the San Francisco zoo. And now another collection is in Virginia Beach.

Pozzi is in town to help set up the exhibit at the aquarium. At 2 p.m. Sunday she will give a presentation, open to the public free of charge, introducing and explaining her artwork. Joan Barns, spokeswoman for the aquarium, said Pozzi's appearance was timed to coincide with the celebration of World Oceans Day.

"I love the ocean," Pozzi said. "I think it's our last sacred place. We should treat it with respect, but when I started doing Washed Ashore, I could see we were destroying it. We still are. I wanted to turn the tides around."

The centerpiece to her exhibit is a collection of plastic trash that has been transformed into a set of whale bones large enough for museum guests to walk through.

"People see that, and they want to get their picture taken next to it," Pozzi said. "And then they start asking, 'Why is there so much garbage in the ocean?' And that gives me the opportunity to explain it to them.

"When I tell them that most of the trash was collected near my home, they think Oregon must have a big problem. But we don't. It's a worldwide problem. This is just a tiny sampler of what you'll find on any coast anywhere in the world."

Her husband, Frank Rocco, serves as the marketing director for Washed Ashore. He said the exhibit has been shown in about a dozen museums since Pozzi began the project in 2010.

Pozzi said she is inspired by the reaction that her work gets from unsuspecting museum guests.

"I've seen people walk into the exhibit and be changed for life," she said. "I've seen people walk in and start crying. Maybe they never had any idea about this before, but now they're thinking about plastic usage. That's what fuels me to keep going – the power of arts to make a difference."

Holtzclaw can be reached by phone at 757-928-6479.

Want to go?

Exhibit: The art exhibit Washed Ashore – constructed from plastic-based trash collected from the Pacific seashore – opens at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach, 717 General Booth Blvd., on Saturday. It will stay there until Sept. 28. Admission to the aquarium is $22, with children admitted for $15.

Artist appearance: Artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi will appear at the Virginia Aquarium at 2 p.m. Sunday. Her presentation is open to the public free of charge.